According to Harvard, Medical Malpractice is a Positive Force

"Medical Malpractice lawsuits cost us all in healthcare premiums." This is the faulty rhetoric put forth by certain entities opposed to civil lawsuits. Health Affairs, a public policy journal, has recently published a study that may prove otherwise.

Harvard researchers published the study the primary finding of which was that the medical liability system (liability for negligent actions imposed on medical professionals) accounts for a measly 2.4 percent of American Health Care expenditures. In fact, the cost of medical malpractice lawsuits alone is well below one percent of the $55.6 billion spent on health care in the U.S. in 2008.

Health and Human Services recently published data from 1998 showing that American spend $7,681 per person on health care, the Harvard study results suggest that only $185 of that amount goes toward malpractice insurance, “defensive” medical tests, legal costs, and the verdicts and settlements paid to patients. Hardly the problem that ant-malpractice community would have the public believe.

“Physician and insurer groups like to collapse all conversations about cost growth in health care to malpractice reform,” said Amitabh Chandra, one of the authors and a professor of public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He points out further, “the amount of defensive medicine is not trivial, but it’s unlikely to be a source of significant savings.” Clearly the lobbying and media relations efforts on behalf of the Insurance and physician groups are not telling the full story.

Medical malpractice is a reality. Doctors make mistakes, as do nurses, physician assistants, and other medical professionals. Individuals that have been victims of medical malpractice can file lawsuits in relation to failure to diagnose a medical condition, surgical complications, and improper coordination of hospital staff, and the violation of hospital protocols and policies.

Patients and families that have questions regarding a potential medical malpractice action should contact experienced civil litigation attorneys. Most take cases on a contingency fee basis, this allows medical negligence attorneys provide access to dedicated counsel and other legal resources without substantial costs to the patients and families.

In Illinois, a medical expert must certify all medical malpractice cases before the lawsuit is allowed to proceed in court. Therefore, no "frivolous" medical malpractice lawsuits can reach the court system in Illinois. Thus, another myth regarding medical malpractice is dispelled.
Unfortunately, the Insurance and Physician Group lobby has plenty of money to spend on swaying and misinforming the public--The Illinois Plaintiff's lawyer only has the facts.
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